Palo Alto Lawmaker's Renter Bill Voted Down

Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Peninsula Bureau

Published
4:00 am PDT, Wednesday, August 13, 1997

Silicon Valley renters forced from their apartments by skyrocketing rents are getting little sympathy from state lawmakers, who voted against a bill that would have given tenants more time to find new places to live.

But the bill's author, state Senator Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto, said yesterday he'll ask his colleagues to reconsider and vote again, possibly as early as next week, to reverse the outcome of Monday's 41- to-29 vote on the Assembly floor.

The bill originally required landlords to give tenants 60 days' notice of rent increases instead of the 30 days now required by law.

It was modified to maintain the 30-day notice. But it required landlords to allow tenants an extra 30 days to move if they can't afford the new rent. They would pay the old rent during that time.

Although the law would apply statewide, the legislation was prompted by Palo Alto City Council members responding to pleas from Santa Clara Valley residents, where middle-class renters are being driven from their apartments with eye-popping $200- to $600-a- month rent increases fueled by the roaring Silicon Valley economy.

Palo Alto City Councilwoman Lanie Wheeler called the bill a matter of "human decency."

Sher said he was disappointed by the defeat. "If you don't give these kinds of modest reliefs to tenants, the pressure builds to enact rent-control ordinances, and that's the last thing the real estate industry wants."

The rent on an average two- bedroom, one-bath apartment in Palo Alto rose 21 percent since last year, from $1,036 in June 1996 to $1,249 this June, according to RealFacts, a Novato firm that tracks statewide real estate statistics.

A two-bedroom, one-bath apartment costs an average of $1,188 in Santa Clara County, a rise of 17 percent over last year. The same type of housing costs $1,162 in San Mateo County, nearly 11 percent higher than it did last year.

Rents rose an average of 10.7 percent over last year in San Francisco County and 9.5 percent in Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin County, according to RealFacts.

Elsewhere, increases were smaller -- from 2 to 4 percent in Los Angeles and San Diego counties, causing critics to suggest the problem is specific to the Bay Area and should not be the subject of a statewide bill.

Rental increases have been fueled by the soaring Silicon Valley economy and by the shortage of apartments in cities where it is expensive and environmentally difficult to build, said Caroline Latham, a partner at RealFacts.

The California Association of Realtors contends that more housing -- not legislation -- is the answer to renters' woes, said Ron Kingston, a lobbyist for the group.

Kingston said Sher's bill could force landlords to impose rent increases a month sooner than they might ordinarily, just to comply with the 60-day window for tenants who might move out.

He was skeptical that the bill would give renters enough time to find alternative housing.

"It will cost money to make that move, and with a tremendous shortage of units, most apartments are going to be keeping pace with one another" in rental price, he said.